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May 9 Batman's Rogues: The Other Villains Week 2

Last week, in celebration of Batman’s 75th
anniversary, I highlighted two villains from his rogue’s gallery that may not
be as known as other. This week I
present two other villains that haven’t had the mainstream exposure as some of
the more popular villains that appeared in movies and whatnot.

Roman grew up in a wealthy family with parents who were more
concerned about their social status than his well being. His father owned a makeup company, Janus
Cosmetics, and used that fortune to elevate his social circle to “befriend”
Thomas and Martha Wayne. Roman’s
parent’s obsession with status led them to force Roman to be friends with Bruce
Wayne (spoiler: he becomes Batman).
Roman grows to hate the false faces his parents and other people of note
wear to hide their true feelings.

Upon graduating college, Roman begins working for his
father, where he meets and falls in love with a secretary, Circe. Because of her middle class status, Roman’s
parents disapproved of Circe, and forced him to end the relationship. Upset with his parents, Roman burns down
their house with them still inside, killing them both. After some bad business decisions, and
permanently scarring hundreds of women, Janus Cosmetics was in ruin. Bruce Wayne bails out the company, but this
just enrages Roman even further, reigniting his hatred for Bruce.

Roman’s mental instability was exasperated when he was
struck by lightning at his parent’s crypt.
Taking this as a sign of his rebirth, Roman carved a mask out of the
black wood of his father’s coffin, and Black mask was born.

Building a criminal empire with his False Faces, criminals
all forced to wear masks to cover their true faces, Black Mask has plagued
Batman and the other protectors of Gotham City for nearly 30 years.

He’s appeared in video games and cartoons, but has yet to
make it to the big screen.

Personal Favorite
Moment:

The novelization of the classic “No Man’s Land” story has
some great scenes with Black mask, but my personal favorite would have to be
from “War Games”. In this arc that ran
through the different Bat-titles at the time, Stephanie Brown, former Spoiler,
future Batgirl, current Robin, decides she’s going to show Batman her worth by
enacting one of his plans to unite the Gotham Underground under a single
criminal leader that Batman could control.

The plan hinges on one Matches Malone to show and begin the
process. Unknown to Stephanie, Matches
is one of Batman’s undercover personas.
This oversight ignites a gang war that ravages Gotham.

During this time Black Mask assumes the role of Orpheus, a
Bat-affiliate, and infiltrates Batman’s camp.
With Spoiler captured he tortures her for information on Batman. The damages of the torture results in
Stephanie’s death (of course being comics she later returns, but that’s neither
here nor there).

In the void in the criminal world power structure resulting
from “War Games” Black Mask emerges THE criminal kingpin of Gotham, and the
character truly came into his own.

Maxie Zeus – Maximilian Zeus

First appearance – Detective Comics #483 (May 1979)

Created by – Denny O’Neil

Brief History:

Maximilian is a
former history teacher whose wife left him. This, as so often happens in comics, drives
him insane and into a life of crime.
After working his way up the ranks, Maxie puts together his own group of
superhuman criminals he dubs the New Olympians.
Each member with a different Olympian god’s motif, they kid name an
Olympic athlete in hopes of making her Maxie’s bride and future mother of his
child, Medea (not to be confused with Tyler Perry’s Madea). Batman and the Outsiders thwart this attempt
in a series of Olympic like events.

Personal Favorite
Moment:

Zeus’ most popular appearance may be in Grant Morrison’s
Arkham Asylum graphic novel in which Maxie is linked to the electroshock
therapy equipment. He constantly
receives shocks to the brain, and these have driven him to believe he’s a new
proto-god taking place of the historical mythological Zeus.

However, my favorite moment is from Batman and the Outsiders
#14, in which the aforementioned Olympic contest occurred. Zeus and his New
Olympians are empowered by the Monitor (long story) and each possess the
abilities of their mythological motif.
It was a fun story with no lasting repercussions that don’t happen often
any more. And really, why wouldn’t
Batman participate in the Olympics if he were real?

Alex is an author bred, born, and raised in New Jersey. He had aspirations beyond his humble beginnings, goals that would take him to the skyscrappers of Metropolis and the alleys of Gotham. Alex was going to be a superhero. Then one tragic day, tragedy tragically struck. He remembered he wasn't an orphan and by law would only be able to become a sidekick. For now Alex bides his time writing about the heroes he would one day become, once he can rectify that pesky parent problem. Follow his scheming, mechinations, and writings at www.azarrising.com, as well as his horror movie review series the Macabre Movie Mausoleum, and various comic-related pieces in The Think Tank.

Alex is an author bred, born, and raised in New Jersey. He had aspirations beyond his humble beginnings, goals that would take him to the skyscrappers of Metropolis and the alleys of Gotham. Alex was going to be a superhero. Then one tragic day, tragedy tragically struck. He remembered he wasn't an orphan and by law would only be able to become a sidekick. For now Alex bides his time writing about the heroes he would one day become, once he can rectify that pesky parent problem. Follow his scheming, mechinations, and writings at www.azarrising.com, as well as his horror movie review series the Macabre Movie Mausoleum, and various comic-related pieces in The Think Tank.